The University of Illinois Springfield is one of six schools sharing a $1 million grant to develop a database to help predict online learning success and provide help to students who may need it.

UIS will participate in the Predictive Analytics Reporting Framework project directed by the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies.

Data to be collected include such things as a student’s age, academic record, gender, where he or she may have transferred from and other information, he said.

“In looking at the data, we should be able to identify patterns of success or trouble in the past,” said Ray Schroeder, director of the UIS Center for Online Learning, Research and Service. “Then we can assign tutors or otherwise make sure the students have help available to them.”

The framework project will operate on a $1 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, of which UIS will receive $50,000.

Schroeder said the project should take seven months over the summer and fall to complete.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for UIS to extend our groundbreaking research in online learning,” Schroeder said.

The framework program will use data from more than 400,000 student records at UIS, the American Public University System, Colorado Community College System, Rio Salado College, University of Hawaii System, and the University of Phoenix.

Distinguished Professor of Educational Leadership Karen Swan and Dean Emeritus of Arts and Sciences Bill Bloemer will lead the project research at UIS.